On September 30, 2016, Yellowcard released what was meant to be their final album, Yellowcard. While their previous album was, in essence, a goodbye letter to the band’s fans, Childhood Eyes seems to be the opposite.
Childhood Eyes sees Yellowcard re-visiting their roots and re-discovering themselves as a band after spending so many years apart. When they originally got together to discuss the reunion, the band knew that they wanted their new songs to call back to Paper Walls. They wanted this new EP to be something that they would be proud of and at the same time, they wanted it to be exciting for their fans. I think it’s safe to say that they accomplished that with Childhood Eyes.
Ryan Key (vocals & guitar) has stated how he’s always enjoyed writing songs where the verses explore pain and struggles and the chorus explores the solution to those problems. Through the years, that writing style has always seemed to be a feature of Yellowcard and that hasn’t changed with Childhood Eyes. Title track “Childhood Eyes” features themes of pain with lyrics such as “If only I was the drug you did, stuck in your arm. Then maybe you would’ve stuck around” and “love leaves me empty every time,” but it also features hopeful lyrics such as “I am the love that you need.” The chorus also questions “am I the only one watching with childhood eyes?” which seems to imply that we should live life to the fullest and look through “childhood eyes,” instead of dwelling on the negatives by looking at the world with a cynical viewpoint.
For older fans, the Childhood Eyes EP feels very nostalgic and, personally, brought me back to memories of watching Yellowcard perform at Warped Tour. That’s not to say that new fans can’t also appreciate the EP. The first track “Three Minutes More” is an upbeat and extremely catchy song that is certain to be a “play it on repeat” kind of song (not to mention, it features Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil which will be sure to draw in new fans from the scene who may not have listened to Yellowcard much in the past).
For those who maybe aren’t as into the upbeat, guitar heavy tracks, Childhood Eyes closes out with a slower, acoustic ballad. While Yellowcard has written their fair share of ballads in the past, “The Places We’ll Go” seems a bit more mature than some of their previous songs. As Key stated, these new songs are “43 year old Ryan writing, not 23 year old Ryan writing”. This growth shows especially well in the first line of the song “20 years passed, it’s wild how fast. Were we ever that young?” as well as in the chorus with the lyrics “I wanna show you the ways that I’ve grown” and “I want you to show me the places we’ll go.”
Overall, all five tracks on Childhood Eyes are fantastic songs that I’m sure will spark feelings of nostalgia in older Yellowcard fans but, even if you’ve never heard a single Yellowcard song before, this is still an amazing collection of songs and I recommend it highly.
I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for this band but, if Childhood Eyes is any indication to go off of, Yellowcard has a bright future in place. Their lyricism has grown immensely from before their break (and it was already amazing before) and it feels like the chemistry between the band members is just as strong as it was during their “final” album and tour.
You can stream “Childhood Eyes” here:
